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Florida has to set its clocks back this weekend, even after daylight saving time vote

Florida isn't supposed to observe daylight saving time with the rest of the U.S. on Sunday, but for now, it will.

The Legislature voted to observe daylight saving time year-round, meaning when the rest of the county moves their clocks back in the fall, Florida wouldn't. Eight months of the year are in daylight time, and four months are in standard time. Arizona, Hawaii, some U.S. territories and the U.S. Virgin Islands don't observe DST.

It was approved by Gov. Rick Scott on March 23 and supposed to go into effect July 1. However, the move still has to be approved by Congress.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R) introduced the Sunshine Protection Act of 2018 (S.2537) and the Sunshine State Act (S.2536). Both petition Congress to allow Florida to observe DST all year.

"The bill is still with the Commerce Committee," said Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokeswoman for Rubio said in an email. "We plan to reintroduce it in the new Congress, and to continue working to make DST permanent."

She also pointed to some of the benefits of a permanently observing DST — reduction in car crashes involving pedestrians because of additional sunlight, reduction in the number of robberies because of the additional sunlight at night and benefits to the agricultural community because farmers' schedules wouldn't be disrupted.

The original proposal to remain on DST included putting Florida all in one time zone. After protest from the part of the state in the Central time zone, bill sponsor Sen. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, removed that language from the bill.

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.